Renewable Energy Projects Cause Conflicts

WATER: Renewable energy projects cause conflict (09/30/2009)

Increasing reliance on renewable energy, from solar farms to biofuel refineries to cleaner coal plants, could consume billions of gallons of water every year.
"When push comes to shove, water could become the real throttle on renewable energy," said Michael E. Webber, an assistant professor at the University of Texas in Austin who studies the relationship between energy and water.

Southwestern states are confronting this issue head on as dozens of multibillion-dollar solar power plants are planned for thousands of acres of desert.

Meanwhile, California lawmakers are debating a bill that would allow renewable energy power plants to use drinking water for cooling under certain conditions.

"By allowing projects to use fresh water, the bill would remove any incentives that developers have to use technologies that minimize water use," said Terry O'Brien, a California Energy Commission deputy director (Todd Woody, New York Times, Sept. 30). -- JK